ISO-8601 Duration Format

ISO-8601 standardizes how we represent durations in a compact, unambiguous way. The basic structure for durations is:

P[n]Y[n]M[n]DT[n]H[n]M[n]S

Breakdown:

• P: Marks the start of the duration period.
• [n]Y: Number of years.
• [n]M: Number of months (before the T separator).
• [n]W: Number of weeks.
• [n]D: Number of days.
• T: Separates the date components from the time components.
• [n]H: Number of hours.
• [n]M: Number of minutes (after T, M now means minutes).
• [n]S: Number of seconds.

Quick Examples:

• PT30M
  • P + T indicates a time duration.
  • 30M means 30 minutes.
• P1DT2H
  • 1 day and 2 hours.
• PT15M30S
  • 15 minutes and 30 seconds.

This concise notation is widely used in various frameworks (like ShedLock) and systems to ensure clarity and consistency when specifying time durations.